Nearing The End
First of all, I will be in Bermuda on a business trip from Wednesday to Friday inclusive (July 16-18). There will be no posting during that period.
Second of all, I wanted to ask for some input on how to proceed now that we are nearing the end of Burnt Offerings.
We starting playing the game in early November 2007. We should be finished in another few weeks, perhaps 4, depending on how we tie things up. That will mean that in total the adventure will have taken in the region of 9 months to complete.
So far I have been able to come up with 3 plausible routes that we can take as we near the end, although if you can think of others, please feel free to suggest.
1) Continue the Adventure Path
Part 2 is called "The Skinsaw Murders". It starts in Sandpoint, continues in Magnimar. it is much more of a murder mystery / horror adventure, and thus may be quite a slow one to role-play in the PbF format. This is my main concern, it is not as simple an adventure as Burnt Offerings, and to me, from a single read-through, would lend itself much better to a group round a table rather than the PbF format.
The rest of the AP looks pretty interesting. The Hook Mountain Massacre (number 3) is very sick, and I love it!
If we were to play another adventure, we would be looking at another 9 months. To do all 5 remaining adventures could take 3.5+ years!
2) Retire Our Heroes
That is assuming that they survive!
They have done a great job with Burnt Offerings. 4 of the 5 original players have stuck with it, and the characters have really started to develop. Okay, so Jokad is still only 17 years old (he has been a naughty boy doing all that flirting and drinking!), but he feels like a man. Jovik has finally found a route for his misspent youth. Danth has taken a minor role as a dignitary at the swallowtail festival and turned it into a real thirst for adventure ... if only his church back in Magnimar weren't so keen to get him back. Kael turned up with a dead horse, and left with a real mastery of his powers, enough gold to buy a covered cart, and a wand of fantastical power.
If we do decide that we are going to retire them, I will create very comprehensive prologues for each character so that you all get a good and proper closure on the adventure.
3) Play Something Else
Another route, perhaps coupled to number 2 above, but perhaps even using the same characters, is to play something else. By this I mean anything. I am open to suggestions.
I own D0 and D1 (Hollow's Last Hope, and Crown of the Kobold King), two low-level adventures set in the same world as Burnt Offerings. They together are probably about the same length as Burnt Offerings.
I would be interested in trying the Beta of the Pathfinder RPG.
I own Dark Heresy and have loved reading it, and could consider a game with that.
I also own Freeport and think it is one of the best campaign sourcebooks I have ever read.
I have a LOT of material from the Midnight setting, and could be up for a quick one-shot adventure there.
I also own the second Adventure Path from Paizo, as well as The Savage Tide, and Age of Worms (all too long to do in whole, but parts may work).
The only thing I will not consider is GMing a 4e game. I have nothing against it except that I do not have anywhere like enough free time to learn the new rules to a sufficient level to run a game. I have a 3 year old and a 3 week old, so time is limited.
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We do not have to continue in any way. I know most of you have other games, and I too may join a game to play for a while (although I always seem to find myself enjoying the GM role more). We could just count our lucky stars that we actually managed to start AND FINISH a full adventure on the forum. (EDIT: That reads too much like I am tempting fate. I HOPE we finish, and I THINK we will) That is not something that too many people manage, you know.
Anyway, ideas, feedback, etc.... I am actually not even sure myself yet whether I want to run another adventure, but thought that before I decide whether to run another it would be worth checking what you all felt. You have, after all, be fantastic players.